Main Street Ellicott City retailer moving to warehouse space in Columbia
EC Pops owners Lance Sovine (left) and Doug Yeakey with (center) employee Miss Virginia.
At approximately 3 pm on Sunday, as the water levels began to significantly rise and start to seep into the storefront of EC Pops on Main Street Ellicott City, owners Lance Sovine and Doug Yeakey knew they were dealing with a serious problem. They placed a frantic call to Ali von Paris, owner and founder of Route One Apparel, looking for immediate assistance on the worsening situation. Not believing anything to be urgent, Ali allowed the communication to transfer to voice mail, as she was standing in line to make a purchase at Towson Town Center. That was the last time that the interests of the co-owners of the gourmet popcorn, candy and merchandise store were ignored.
von Paris knew it was raining and raining hard outside, but she believed this to be a local, rather than a statewide situation. Upon completion of her purchase, she became worried and sent a text message back to Sovine and Yeakey asking, “Are you guys OK?” The chilling response came back “NO.” She immediately visited several social media sites to witness live footage of the destruction already underway on Main Street and sprang into action. By then, Sovine and Yeakey had retreated to the safer ground of the upper floor apartment that they rented above their store.
“I shifted into panic and action mode at the same time,” von Paris explained. “After finally reaching them by phone, I instructed the two to stay in their apartment as I contacted the Howard County Police Department to inform them of their location and situation. Using social media, I posted instructions to our customers to stay away from the area. I also immediately started a GoFundMe page to initiate fundraising. Then, upon learning that Lance and Doug were being transferred to a Community Center, I booked an Uber to pick them up, take them to the airport to rent a car and then to a hotel that we had arranged for them to stay in. Because they relocated here less than two years ago from Connecticut, I understand that they don’t know that many people in Maryland, and I was their best resource.”
Kate Jordan, Principal with Lee & Associates, had just recently returned from a trip out of the country when she began to piece together the situation unfolding on Main Street. Jordan was familiar with EC Pops through her business relationship with Route One Apparel, who she represented in the acquisition of a new headquarters building in Towson last fall. EC Pops is the largest retail customer of Route One Apparel, who sells State of Maryland-branded clothing, headwear, footwear, jewelry and other merchandise.
“I knew where EC Pops was located on Main Street and assumed the store, at the very least, suffered major water damage,” Jordan explained. “A call to Lance and Doug at 7:30 am on Tuesday morning confirmed my worst suspicions that they had lost everything.”
With many connections and relationships from her years working in the commercial real estate industry, Jordan had an idea for the owners of EC Pops that she thought just might work.
“I contacted my client, Velsor Properties, which owns a 77,000 square foot warehouse building in the Columbia area and suggested the idea about coming to the rescue of EC Pops, because I knew the building had a small vacancy,” Jordan said. “Three hours later, we had a signed deal, and the store owners were making plans to reopen their operations on Sunday, just one week after the storm.”
“I was aware of the Ellicott City situation from seeing the footage of the storm on television and did not think twice about lending a hand,” stated Peter Horowitz, President of Velsor Properties, who agreed to a deal that required only the payment of operating expenses, amounting to approximately $200 per month. “This is a horrific situation and my decision was a no-brainer. When people are hit with bad luck, it is the least we can do to help them. We will do everything we can to make this location work for them.”
“A few days ago, we had no source of income, no store and were homeless with no place to go,” said Lance Sovine. “The response to our situation from many people was priceless and actually overwhelming. It just shows you that there are still good people in the world. Ali immediately jumped into action and started making decisions for us, at a time when we were not thinking clearly. We just had a few minutes to grab some clothing before evacuating from our apartment.”
EC Pops will start receiving new inventory at their new location on 6655 Dobbin Road on Thursday. To help supplement their income, they will also be working at the Route One Apparel kiosk at the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market in Cockeysville starting this week. If all goes well, the new EC Pops store in Columbia opens on Sunday.
Sovine estimates a loss of inventory valued at approximately $200,000 as a result of the storm. But the most important thing they did not lose was hope.
“Situations like this test your resolve but also make you look at things in a different light,” he said. “Complete strangers, and also those very close to us, went out of their way to help us. David Trapp of Maryland my Maryland actually gave us free merchandise to sell. We will definitely make it through this and never forget the support offered by many. Doug and I feel extremely lucky.”
Lee & Associates is a commercial real estate brokerage, management and appraisal services firm. Established in 1979, Lee & Associates has grown its service platform to include offices in the United States and Canada. Lee & Associates provides superior market intelligence in office, industrial, retail, investment and appraisal to meet the specialized needs of our clients. Visit www.leeassociates.com.
